What are some hobbies you abandoned? Why?

[commando]

I think we all have collected sports cards. I no longer try to collect everything, and now just focus on cards from the decade of the 1980s. That way, I know it is possible to make a huge dent in what there is to collect -- and I have done exactly that.

As far as game used, I used to collect whatever seemed like a good deal at the time, especially New Orleans Saints items. About three years ago, I began to refocus my game used goals and now just collect the USFL's Houston Gamblers. Since the team only played for two years, there is a limited amount to collect and it doesn't break the bank.

How about you guys?

[mlbforeverhomer]

Shooting Professional Archery... I had to choose one extremely expensive hobby over another. Plan on picking it back up along with my sponsorships this year.

[jppopma]

I gave up on sports cards nearly 20 years ago; back when too much product was coming out to keep up with it all. Saw the writing on the wall when people were dumping items for less than cost --- all before I even received my cases from the card companies.

I do still buy a few cards of my local players, but don't collect anything.

Additionally I gave up on my hobby of whoring around....I forget the reason, but think this ring on my hand is supposed to remind me of something...

[frikativ54]

I gave up on sports cards nearly 20 years ago; back when too much product was coming out to keep up with it all. Saw the writing on the wall when people were dumping items for less than cost --- all before I even received my cases from the card companies.

Good thinking on sports cards. I gave up on baseball cards when I realized that I just couldn't keep up with all the sets and products. My first year of collecting as an adult, I thought that everything that was coming out was really neat. Then, I saw the next year's stuff and realized it was all to similar to the first year's product.

After experiencing similar sets, I had the epiphany that baseball cards were really just the industry's way of making money. At that point, I felt like I was being conned and sold a portion of my collection, mainly "game-used" cards and sticker autographs. I still collect baseball cards, but I now focus on 1990s inserts and rare on-card autographs.

As far as other things I have abandoned, I have long since stopped hoarding books. I used to buy every book in sight at sales. Then I realized that there was no focus to my collection and that I would never read most of the books I acquired. However, I couldn't even give the books away, so I had to limit what I bought.

I also had to be much more selective with the game-used items I collect. When I started out, I would throw some money at hot prospects, as well as other cash at players that I liked. Then, I realized that I just didn't have enough space to do such serious collecting of so many players. So - I started focusing almost exclusively on my favorite player, Jeff Bagwell.

That's where I'm at now.

[34swtns]

I'm 46 and have been a collector all my life so this could get long but I'll try to keep it short.

As a kid, Evel Knievel memorabilia: I grew out of it and he retired.

Elvis Presley original record pressings: after he died the market was flooded and the values dropped.

Led Zeppelin bootleg vinyl pressings: sold the whole collection to a single collector in 1985 for a small fortune.

Queensryche acetates, test pressings, gold and platinum record awards: sold everything right before their popularity took a dive for another small fortune.

1970's era toys: re-acquired all my favorite toys from when I was a kid. Still have them in my display case.

1st generation (1967-1970) Johnny Lightning die-cast toy cars: ended up with 2 complete sets and sold 'em both for a big loss.

Bears Wilson-brand game jerseys: started picking these up in the early 90's and ended up with over 75 of them. Sold them and now concentrate on modern-era Bears gamers.

[CampWest]

Toys. Starting Lineups and McFarlane action figures. Star Wars, the new trilogy just did me in. When they re-released the redesigned original trilogy action figures back in 95-96, the variations and errors were highly collectible and the old 70s figures could be found at garage sales and it was a lot of fun. But demand (and my interest) tanked after the lackluster new trilogy came out.

Baseball and Football cards. My family owned a hobby store for 18+ years. We closed in Fall of 2009 and I have not opened a pack of cards since then. I gave up basketball cards in about 1994, I had gotten into the whole Shaq, Mourning and Sprewell rookie year, then realized I really prefer college basketball and I no longer watch NBA.

One hobby I've recently started is collecting meteorites. Its cool (and I'm comfortable expressing my nerdy side) to hold something that is other-worldly, traveled space for billions of years before colliding with Earth. Material that existed before Earth was formed. Materials that in other parts of our solar system combined to form planets - really the building blocks of life. Its also kind of a morbid fascination with holding materials that came from the same place and are same materials as those that led to mass extinctions of the dinosaurs and those that could possibly lead to our extinction someday.

We'll see how long this new hobby lasts... ;)

[godwulf]

I used to buy game used items (bats and jerseys, mostly) from a guy's previous teams, when he came over to the DBacks. I very rarely do that now - only if the item is associated with one of my very favorite players, like Luis Gonzalez or Matt Williams, or it's practically being given away.

I still have some nice Bernard Gilkey Mets bats for sale, btw. :rolleyes:

Like frik, I've been accumulating books for a long time, but have recently started getting really selective with what I buy, and am actively weeding out what I know I will never get around to reading. I attribute my lower back problems largely to the effects of hauling boxes of books around, from room to room and house to house, over the course of more than thirty years. It's just all too much to deal with any more.

I used to collect military medals and insignia, but I unloaded much of all that on eBay years ago. I still have a small collection of Syrian, Iraqi and other Arab states medals on my office wall, because they're so beautiful, and somewhere around here I have a box containing a couple of hundred old police shooting medals - including a couple of White House police medals from the '40s, and some other rare ones - that I'm going to have to dispose of one of these days. Other than that, I'm out of that hobby, as interesting as it is.

[MiLe HigH]

For me it was Vintage Skateboards late 50's - Early 80's. I acculated almost 250 Skateboards. There was and still is huge market for boards especially overseas. Two years ago I decided to sell off 90% of the boards and did so. I made triple what I put in BUT now I have filled that space with another form of wood that is just as hard to store....I've just gone Batty as my wife would say...

[gingi79]

Ok, I'll play along.....

Obviously baseball cards and comics. My dad had a saying that we never got the best items but we always got well above the middle. So I owned rookie cards from guys like George Brett and Robin Yount right around the time they had about 2500 hits. Always wanted to get a Mickey Mantle card but they (still) aren't affordable to me. Comics had a hot streak going in the early to mid 90's when Superman died. I had all kinds of late 70's and early 80's "First appearance of" issues. I got out toward the middle of my high school years when I realized how little the gorgeous women I loved looking at liked to look at a guy who collected baseball cards and comics...

I switched my attention to authentic jerseys. I was a snob even then about replicas. I thought they were a cash grab for people who didn't want to spend $80 on an authentic football or $100 for an authentic hockey jersey. I was sold when my dad got me my first Marino Dolphins authentic and my first authentic Canucks jersey. I had replicas of both from when I was younger and the quality difference was incredible. Even to this day, I find myself looking down on fans who wear replicas. I just don't see the appeal to wearing a screen printed jersey (I'm talking of modern players, not guys with shirts produced in the mid 80's or earlier jerseys or guys whose jersey has a story. I'm saying spending $80 on a Tom Brady jersey to me makes no sense.) I say this because they look cheap, it isn't what they wear and at $80 you could show your team spirit with a real sweatshirt and 2 hats. Realism has always been the lynch pin for me. Of course this need to get the exact same thing the players actually wore led to....buying the actual jersey they wore.

I tried to recapture my youth when eBay was in it's infancy. I bought a few action figures I loved as a child. Still have a few in storage. When I finally settle in a home I buy (rather than rent), I'll pull all those out and display the ones that make me smile, sell the ones that don't.

I was into NASCAR die cast right after Dale Earnhardt died. I used to bet on races in college with 6 packs of beer. Dale Jr got me hammered for years :p I always wanted a Budweiser Red #8 die cast as a thanks and way to remember him. I had no idea they made the cars from when he was winning me beer so I thought I would get the current one. The store I was working in didn't have his red one, they only had a white one with MLB decals on it. My store owner didn't want them so he sold me the whole box of 12 for $20 each. I hoped I would re-cap some money so I went and investigated other NASCAR shops a few weeks later. Some had interest and I was about to sell them for $25 each when the race he drove the car came on tv. Little did I know, that was the 2001 Daytona race he won, at the same track his dad died at a few month before. I left the box of 11 in my room and displayed my one. Fast forward 3 years and literally 100 cars later and I put them on eBay. All 11 sold for an average for $300 each. Wish I would have saved the money. A few years later, the floor fell out of prices when (like most idiot companies who care about only their bottom line) re-introduced all of the rare Jr cars to cash in on his popularity. Unlike rookie cards where the hobby cares that say Mickey's rookie card be a 1955 Topps produced in 1955, die cast only cares that it was an Action (the company) quality car with the correct paint scheme. I had stopped collecting a few years before to save money to return to college. Should have sold it when I stopped because imagine my surprise when I wanted to move them to pay for my senior year?

Suddenly cars that sold for hundreds sold for $50. I lost my shirt and kept the ones that meant something to me. Yes, that included the Dale Jr MLB. :D

I started buying anything game worn from my favorite (for the moment) players, then jerseys I thought I could make money on, then had a few more dollars to get who I loved as a kid and finally, cut out everyone who wasn't my main focus. I rear this collection will soon one day find it's way to the "prior" category as well. I am losing my love for this hobby on a regular basis because:

a) I think officiating, reffing, umping has gotten to the point where they can, punishment free, affect the outcome of the contests. Many people say this has always been the case. I say if that is true or not, it's still unfair. I seriously question whether sports have become the WWE, where outcomes are decided my parties other than the combatants.

b) My two all time favorite teams have either never one the championship or haven't done so in my 31 years on the planet. I'm not a Cubs fan. I don't pride myself on rooting for a team that disappoints me. If my friends failed me as often as my teams do, I'd get rid of them. Sports are supposed to provide entertainment to take your mind off the disappointments in your life, not provide them.

c) My favorite players have all been thrown off my favorite teams. Most recently it's Matty Diaz. Before that it was Jeff Francoeur. Dale Murphy, Pavel Bure, Kelly Gruber, Mark McGwire, Daryl Strawberry, Trevor Linden, the list goes on. Again, that's not entertaining, that's disappointing.

d) I think the reason people abandon a hobby is because the excitement of getting a new piece for it just disappears. I remember waking with a smile when a new jersey would arrive that day. Now, I hardly notice and it gets hung in the closet. There are only maybe 5 jerseys I truly love. The rest just take up space and were purchased in hopes of completing the collection. What do you do when that collection stops meaning something to you?

[commando]

I know we all have limited budgets to spend on hobbies. I think we eventually realize that when you bite off more than you can chew, you feel like you're going backwards instead of forwards. Ebay has allowed me to add many items to my Houston Gamblers and 1980s card collections at great prices... But the feeling that I'm making progress in those collections is because I put parameters on what I collect.

I'm a much happier collector now. :)

[Ollie]

I used to collect vintage original movie posters (mainly 1940's and 50's) but after I started getting into sports memorabilia I lost interest. I got 90% of them museum quality frames but would love to sell some.

[Fnazxc0114]

I gave up deer hunting this year. It has been hard but I decided to hunt other stuff. Been to NM and just walked in the door from Kansas on various other hunts. I figured the money I spent on hunting deer would be better served going on guided hunts across the country and Africa.

[Dewey2007]

I collected comics, cards, game used bats and autographs as a kid. Abandoned the hobbies when I was in high school due to other interests. Ended up selling all my comics to help fund my first trip to Paris, France in 1993. Had a great trip to Europe but later regretted not getting more money for them at the time. Had a great collection of Spiderman comics.

Sold my original collection of game used bats in 2007 and auto'd cards later on and used the money to get back into the hobby and start my current collections.

[godwulf]

Ended up selling all my comics to help fund my first trip to Paris, France in 1993. Had a great trip to Europe but later regretted not getting more money for them at the time. Had a great collection of Spiderman comics.

I sold virtually all of my comics when I was 15 or 16, to a used book dealer for 5 cents each (this would have been about 1970) including Amazing Spiderman #11-100 (ouch!). I saved out a few - I still have my X-Men and Avengers #1's, purchased off that squeaky circular rack in the grocery store for 12 cents each - but that was all.

Along about 1981, I got back into comics, and sort of went overboard for twenty or so years. I bought some good stuff, but I also bought a lot of total crap, because it was cheap. Ended up with something like 75 long boxes - well over 20,000 comics. I consigned about a third of it with a friend who owns a comic shop in Phoenix, a couple of years ago, and I've realized a few hundred dollars, so far, from that; most of the crap is unsold, but every once in awhile he'll sell a single comic (for which I paid 12 or 15 cents) for $40 or $50, which always blows me away. I'll probably be taking in another twenty or so boxes soon and see how they do. I have a near-complete run of the Avengers that I'll probably hold onto for awhile, but most of the rest of it can go. My kids have no interest in comics, aside from their monetary value, so I might as well enjoy what money I can get for them now.